Apple announced its first Touchscreen MacBook Pro on October 28, 2026, reversing its longstanding resistance to putting touchscreens on its laptops. The new models are scheduled to go on sale November 6, starting at $2,899 for the 14-inch version and $3,399 for the 16-inch version.

Key Takeaways

  • The laptop runs macOS and uses Apple’s M5 Pro or M5 Max chips.
  • Apple demonstrated touch gestures for manipulating images and videos.
  • IDC estimated Apple’s PC shipments fell 11% year over year in the third quarter.

What the Touchscreen MacBook Pro offers

Apple calls the laptop the MacBook Pro with ProLED XDR Display. Its OLED screen offers more brightness, better colors and wider viewing angles, the company said. Apple also said the computer is lighter than its current Pro laptops.

The machine remains a Mac running macOS, rather than the operating system used by the iPhone or iPad. In an Apple demonstration, users swiped on the display to manipulate videos and images.

The touchscreen models are separate from Apple’s recently introduced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6, which has a Liquid Retina XDR display. The touchscreen laptop instead uses an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip.

Why the design change matters

Apple has resisted touchscreen laptops for years, even as the feature became available on Windows machines. In 2021, John Ternus, then Apple’s hardware engineering chief and now its CEO, said the iPad was optimized for touch while the Mac was optimized for indirect input.

At the October 28 event in Los Angeles, Ternus announced the reversal: “Yes, for the very first time, we are bringing touch to the Mac.”

A launch during a PC market slump

The touchscreen laptop arrives as PC makers face weaker shipments. Research firm IDC estimated that total PC shipments fell 20% year over year in the third quarter, while Apple’s shipments fell 11%.

Apple reported $10.35 billion in Mac sales in its most recent quarter, just under 10% of its total revenue. Both touchscreen models carry higher starting prices than existing models.

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